Terrain Levelling Ideal for Environmentally Sensitive Road Project

Posted 13 July 2012

UEA Civil and Mining recently completed road works for Alcoa in Western Australia in an environmentally sensitive area of Dwellingup State Forest, 66km South of Perth. Over a 9 day period UEA used the Vermeer T1255 to level a 6km stretch of road from the intersection of Del Park and Scarp Roads near North Dandalup in order for the road to be built up and sealed at a later time. Due to the environmental constraints of operating heavy equipment within a State forest and within the boundaries of a metropolitan drinking water catchment the operation had to be performed under the strictest of ground disturbance plans which best suited the capabilities of the T1255 terrain leveller.

The gazetted road needed to be cut to sub-base level so that the designed road could be properly constructed using a loader to clear out the cut material without any chance of hitting the cap rock during the final road installation.

In order to keep the public road open with minimal disruption and to meet the guidelines laid out in the Ground Disturbance Plan the milled material needed to be graded and rolled immediately after cutting, the terrain leveller was perfectly suited to this application as the product size of the milled cap rock was perfect for laying straight back onto the road. This method of cutting the road ensured that there was nil environmental disruption to the surrounding vegetation and stockpiling material was not required.

In addition, the road works were carried out in the only Jarrah forest in the world so the spotlight was on UEA to mitigate any environmental impact. GPS guidance, excellent operator visibility and planning were key aspects in making this project a success.

Image caption: The consistent product size created by terrain levelling is ready for the following grader and roller to transform the cut road back into a drivable road with little effort.